ABINGTON, Pa. — Penn State Abington alumnus Matt Handwerk committed early to software development as his career, but he credits study abroad and an international internship he completed later in his college experience for supplying him with the best options post-graduation.
“Study abroad programs are an investment that give you the edge you need to land your dream job,” said Handwerk, who works as a solutions engineer at mutual fund giant American Funds in Southern California.
Handwerk, who graduated in 2016 with a degree in information sciences and technology (IST), started his degree at Abington before spending his final semesters at University Park.
In 2014, he enrolled in a course that included a brief study abroad component (also known as an embedded course) in China with faculty and students from the Abington IST program. The first half of the course offered the Abington students the technical and cultural background they needed to study in China.
The second half was the 10 days studying abroad. The course gave the group experience working with people from different cultural backgrounds in a project-team setting, enhancing their communication and teamwork skills.
The IST students and Abington faculty toured Beijing, the capital of China, for five days. Then they traveled about 300 miles to Heibei University of Science and Technology in the city of Shijiazhuang. Each day, the IST students attended class with their cohorts at Heibei. And by the end of the week, the Abington and Heibei students had collaborated to complete a project.